Roads have many sustainability problems such as the energy used to create asphalt and the interference that they have with the ecosystem around them. A green roads standard gives road planning and construction organizations a way of quantitatively rating sustainability and environmental friendliness of their roads. There is such high potential in building sustainable and environmentally friendly roads because there are so many points of intervention from road planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and deconstruction. Greenroads is an example of a standard that has been proposed that allows the sustainability and environmental friendliness of roads to be quantified. This allows for roadway projects to be certified based on their Greenroads rating. An important part of the success of this standard is its awareness in both the public and the road construction industry. With the right benefits, motivation to meet these standards will be had without mandates (Muench).
Road design can be changed in a variety of ways from the raw materials to the construction of the road itself. For example, the aggregate in in asphalt can be replaced with recycled materials such as slag from steel plants and reclaimed asphalt and concrete. Further, a significant amount of energy could be saved if warm-mix asphalt (WMA) is used instead of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) because it is the most energy intensive process in road construction (Huang). Another consideration is runoff from roads. This increases flooding in areas with many roads, makes driving dangerous due to water on the road and an increased difficulty in seeing road lines, and carries oils from the road into the environment. Permeable pavement, which allows water to flow through is one solution to this problem (Fang).
Roads can also be designed to last longer and require less maintenance. Not only does this reduce the amount of resources used to fix a road, but it also decreases the emissions from vehicles on the road because road construction areas interfere with the flow of traffic, forcing vehicles to use more fuel (Huang). Further, making roads safer, which may be accomplished with permeable pavement or increased traction also reduces the likelihood of accidents, which are very resource intensive and environmentally damaging. For example, traffic jams may occur, toxic substances may be released into the environment, new cars must be produced, and injured humans must be treated (Fang).
Another way to reduce the environmental impact of roads is to make them easier to use for more sustainable forms of transportation such as walking, cycling, and car-pooling. This includes adding bicycle lanes, high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, sidewalks, and reducing the volume of noise that is created between tires and the road. Further, in areas where roads block wildlife from moving to different areas, tunnels can be built to reduce road kill (Muench).
Fang, F. T., Chong, Y. C., Nyunt, T. T., & Loi, S. S. (2013). Development of Environmentally Sustainable Pavement Mix. International Journal of Pavement Research & Technology, 6(4), 440–446. doi:10.6135/ijprt.org.tw/2013.6(4).440
Road design can be changed in a variety of ways from the raw materials to the construction of the road itself. For example, the aggregate in in asphalt can be replaced with recycled materials such as slag from steel plants and reclaimed asphalt and concrete. Further, a significant amount of energy could be saved if warm-mix asphalt (WMA) is used instead of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) because it is the most energy intensive process in road construction (Huang). Another consideration is runoff from roads. This increases flooding in areas with many roads, makes driving dangerous due to water on the road and an increased difficulty in seeing road lines, and carries oils from the road into the environment. Permeable pavement, which allows water to flow through is one solution to this problem (Fang).
Roads can also be designed to last longer and require less maintenance. Not only does this reduce the amount of resources used to fix a road, but it also decreases the emissions from vehicles on the road because road construction areas interfere with the flow of traffic, forcing vehicles to use more fuel (Huang). Further, making roads safer, which may be accomplished with permeable pavement or increased traction also reduces the likelihood of accidents, which are very resource intensive and environmentally damaging. For example, traffic jams may occur, toxic substances may be released into the environment, new cars must be produced, and injured humans must be treated (Fang).
Another way to reduce the environmental impact of roads is to make them easier to use for more sustainable forms of transportation such as walking, cycling, and car-pooling. This includes adding bicycle lanes, high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, sidewalks, and reducing the volume of noise that is created between tires and the road. Further, in areas where roads block wildlife from moving to different areas, tunnels can be built to reduce road kill (Muench).
Fang, F. T., Chong, Y. C., Nyunt, T. T., & Loi, S. S. (2013). Development of Environmentally Sustainable Pavement Mix. International Journal of Pavement Research & Technology, 6(4), 440–446. doi:10.6135/ijprt.org.tw/2013.6(4).440
Huang, Y., Bird, R., & Heidrich, O. (2009). Development of a life cycle assessment tool for construction and maintenance of asphalt pavements. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(2), 283–296. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.06.005
Muench, S. T., Anderson, J., & Bevan, T. (2010). Greenroads: A Sustainability Rating System for Roadways. International Journal of Pavement Research & Technology, 3(5), 270–279.